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2009

South Africa’s Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets, has become the first international financial institution to join the IFC’s $5 billion global trade liquidity program. The program aims to extend loans to regional banks for on-lending to importers and ...

HELP OR HINDRANCE? Mounting concern over the economic prospects of the world’s poorest nations is encouraging developed nations to reassess their aid policies. By Antonio Guerrero World Bank president Robert Zoellick calls on the developed world ...

Mexico becomes the first country to tap IMF credit line;and risk management remains undervalued by money managers. Concerned about a weakening peso and possible 2010 fiscal gap, Mexico has turned to Washington for assistance for the first time since its ...

Tsvangirai: Vowed to restore relations with the IMF. The African Development Bank has used its own capital base to create a $1.5 billion trade finance facility that aims to fuel trade and investment in the region. African commercial lenders and ...

Brazil's air force is helping finance Embraer's $500 million development program for a new military transport plane. Following Brazil’s recent credit boom, banks are starting to face increased customer arrears. A research report from BB Investimentos, a division of Banco ...

Tsvangirai: Vowed to restore relations with the IMF The African Development Bank has used its own capital base to create a $1.5 billion trade finance facility that aims to fuel trade and investment in the region. African commercial lenders and ...

BRAZIL Brazil’s central bank: Attempting to boost banks’ trade finance lines With commodity prices plummeting from last year’s highs, Latin American governments are seeking ways to support their trade sectors as part of their economic stimulus plans. Strong ...

LATIN AMERICA Sleepless in Madrid: Santander chairman Emilio Botin Spanish banking giant Santander is struggling to contain the fallout from the more than $3 billion loss its clients sustained through the bank’s investments in funds linked to disgraced ...

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras will use debt issuance to finance new offshore exploration. The Petrobras state-controlled oil company sold $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds on international markets in February. The deal, which carries a 7.875% coupon, was managed by HSBC, ...

Zimbabwe has abandoned its "worthless" currency in favor of other currencies such as the US dollar. After years of trying to defend its near-worthless currency, the Zimbabwean government has abandoned foreign exchange and price controls. Zimbabweans will now be allowed ...

Brazil's air force is helping finance Embraer's $500 million development program for a new military transport plane Following Brazil’s recent credit boom, banks are starting to face increased customer arrears. A research report from BB Investimentos, a division of Banco ...

BRAZIL Revving up: BV stake boosts Banco do Brasil’s auto loan portfolio The Brazilian government returned to international capital markets in January with $1.025 billion in dollar-denominated global bonds maturing in 2019. The 10-year issue, led by Goldman ...

CHILE Chile's president Bachelet: Stimulating economic growth. While high copper prices had maintained Chile’s economy as Latin America’s strongest, it seems the party is over as prices plummet and demand wanes. The South American country, the world’s largest ...

AFRICA Leaving a hole: Foreign firms have shut down Zambian mines as ore prices plummet Guinea’s military leaders chose former banker Kabine Komara as the new prime minister, tasked with coordinating a return to civilian rule after last ...

Ecuador Correa: Buying political capital with debt restructuring. Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has made good on his 2006 presidential campaign promise to default on any foreign debt deemed illegitimate, defaulting on $3.9 billion in global bonds. This marks ...

Africa Africa's airlines are looking to tap new credit lines. The Central Bank of Nigeria issued guidelines for establishing and operating credit bureaus, in a move that will support the development of the country’s credit market by providing ...

Brazil Not so sweet: Predicted demand for Brazil's ethanol is falling. Just a year after Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, predicted Brazil would triple its annual ethanol output to around 70 billion liters by 2020, the market ...

BRAZIL Presidents Medvedev and Lula call for the first-ever BRIC summit. Eager to maintain its status as Latin America’s largest financial institution, Banco do Brasil, Brazil’s largest state-controlled bank, announced the acquisition of Nossa Caixa, a bank ...

2008

AFRICA Manuel: Rand's slide will help the country balance its books. Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti, Africa’s largest gold producer, hopes to refinance a $1 billion convertible bond before Christmas, despite current market conditions that have all but closed the ...

COSTA RICA President Arias successfully concludes free trade agreement. Four years after it was first signed, Costa Rican lawmakers in November finally ratified Cafta, the free trade agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States. ...

BRAZIL Brazil’s banks continued their consolidation trend, with the most recent deal in November creating Latin America’s largest financial group. Itaú, Brazil’s second-largest non-state-owned bank, announced its acquisition of Unibanco, the country’s third-largest, in a stock transaction valued ...

LATIN AMERICA President Lula’s bold program of social and economic reform has become a model for economies in Latin America and beyond. Under Lula, Brasilia has focused on growing the economy in a way that benefits people at all ...

AFRICA Kampala in Uganda, where African leaders discussed plans for growing investment. East Africa may benefit from the recent turmoil on global financial markets, as investors seek less risky and higher yielding markets. Speakers at September’s ...

BRAZIL Oil finds saw Brazil's national petroleum agency ANP reduce new exploration concessions. While Brazilian officials had touted the country’s resilience to the global financial meltdown, they got a disturbing wake-up call in October as the ...

ARGENTINA Seeing off the debt: Kirchner hopes investors will accept deal. In a major policy reversal, the Argentine government is reaching out to holdouts from its $100 billion debt workout in which bondholders received a 70% ...

AFRICA Unemployment and homelessness have risen sharply in Zimbabwe. Following the controversial reelection of president Robert Mugabe in June, Zimbabwe has fallen into even greater economic chaos. Officials said annual inflation leapt to 11.2 million percent in ...

UNITED STATES IMF: Many view it as responsible for causing, not reducing, poverty. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not likely to win any popularity contests anywhere in the world these days. Emerging market governments have been ...

COUNTRY REPORT / TURKEY Turkey’s Islamist government has narrowly avoided a constitutional crisis, but it is still treading a fine line in its quest for economic progress. When Turkey’s constitutional court dismissed a move in July to outlaw the ...

BRAZIL Petrobras head José Sergio Gabrielli: Prefers debt issue to equity. The Brazilian government is grappling with the reality of new offshore oil discoveries that could produce an estimated 50 billion barrels of oil, according to private ...

ANNUAL SURVEY / WORLD’S BEST BANKS 2008 Now more than ever, the world’s best banks deserve recognition for continuing to provide excellent products and high levels of service to their clients, despite the distractions of the global credit ...

MEXICO Mexico's president Felipe Calderón is hoping Ruiz can help get the economy back on track. Faced with the fallout from the US economic slowdown, Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, appointed former businessman Gerardo Ruiz to the country’s top ...

AFRICA All change: Zimbabwe's coins have value again. With hyperinflation eroding the nation’s economy, Zimbabwe’s government is taking desperate measures. It lopped off 10 zeros from the Zimbabwe dollar, as inflation is now running at 2.2 million percent ...

AFRICA Kenya's mobile communications industry flourishes following IPO of Safaricom. A June IPO by Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom was oversubscribed by 532%, according to Kenya’s finance minister Amos Kimunya. The government exercised a provision allowing ...

CHILE Chile's state-owned copper mine, Codelco, faces opposition over privatization plans. With the long wave of Latin American privatizations seemingly coming to an end, Chile looks like it might be about to ...

PARAGUAY Lugo: Promising to improve Paraguay's international standing. Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, is the newest member of Latin America’s growing list of left-wing leaders. He faces serious challenges in a country that, until his ...

ARGENTINA Fernandez: His appointment unsettled financial markets. As he slips into the seat occupied by four others in less than a year, Argentina’s new economy minister, Carlos Fernandez, faces the unenviable task of restoring confidence in his government’s economic ...

COUNTRY REPORT / NIGERIA Despite vast hydrocarbon reserves and a government committed to economic diversification, Nigeria still faces tremendous problems. A resurgence in its banking sector may help accelerate future progress. Oil is Nigeria’s lifeline, accounting for some 80% ...

BRAZIL Mantega: Central bank reserves will not be used for wealth fund. After years of speculation over when and if Brazil would achieve a coveted investment-grade rating, the move finally caught almost everyone by surprise. Standard & Poor’s ...

ANNUAL REPORT / STARS OF THE NEW RUSSIA Making the most of their newfound spending power, Russia’s consumers are boosting the fortunes of the country’s banks and corporations. With Russia’s economy fueled by petrodollars, Russian consumers are on ...

Panama Digging in: Work is now under way on the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Although Brazil appears poised to become Latin America’s next investment-grade-rated sovereign, a tiny country may beat the giant to the punch. ...